Today we look at the winning 40K list of this weekend’s 2017 So-Cal Slaughter. Here’s the meta’s latest king of the hill!

Brandon Grant is on a tear winning the Socal event hosted/run/etc by the crew at Frontline Gaming. The finals had a Chaos super friends list that was unfortunately over points and thus DQ’d on the final table. A bit more about that at the end of this but let’s look at the winning list. It is a newly upgraded and (pre Commissar nerfed”) AM/IG list piloted by a very strong player Brandon Grant. It is the tried and true AM list with tons of bodies, a boatload of Smites, some of its own Smite control with Assassins, and some Soup Shenanigans. It isn’t an easy list to play but it sure works pretty well.

Tactics & List Thoughts

Its pretty simple to figure out. It has bodies, guns to shoot stuff, and a ton of Smites. Its the same sort of boring thing we will see – but now with Commissars nerfed some of the bubble wrap is going to be hurt by massed fire. Reroll morale isn’t as exciting so even with 10+ wounds done to a unit it can be very rough to keep guys around. But this army has the guns, the spells, and the damage potential to beat up just about everyone. Plus it can deep strike all around, get objectives, and be a bear to dig in, remove and get your points rolling. It also has the Saint which is a cruise missile when used properly. But man – don’t you want to see Smite changed soon – cuz 9 Primaris Psykers just feels unexciting.

As I said earlier the other player in the finals was DQ’d due to a list that was over points. It is a rough thing to see this happen in multiple events and really shows that we need a true official Army builder from GW. We also need to have events double check lists, especially the winners from the first day. I know its a pain but maybe we need to have people submit lists a few days before the event – that way the peanut gallery can get to looking, get to reviewing, and maybe prevent players from losing time, money, and not be labeled a cheater because of a mistake. I don’t know the guy personally. I have no opinion beyond: the entire situation sucks.

~What do you think of the winning list and what it means for 8th right now?